Those men hadn’t “fixed” the iron bars. They hadn’t replaced them.
They’d replicated them. Sawyer was certain of it.
That weird cylinder thing he’d seen in the steel crate had somehow replicated the iron bars. He knew it sounded crazy, but the proof was staring him in the face.
“Stop looking at them,” Ciaran said.
“I’m telling you,” Sawyer said, his tone light. They’d had this conversation many times over the past however many days since Hadeom and his team had visited. “They did not replace them.”
“Hm, yes,” Ciaran placated. “Replicated. Like onStar Trek.”
“Well, it’s either that or that cylinder thing was a temporal device, and?—”
“A what?”
“A temporal device. You know, temporal. As in time.”
Ciaran blinked at him.
“See? A replicator is a much better explanation.’
He looked up at the bars. “Well, it’s less crazy.”
The front door opened, and Kellan walked in. “Hey, Doc,” Ciaran said. “Tell me, does Sawyer seem sane to you?”
Sawyer sighed. “I refuse to dignify that with a response. Kellan, I suggest you do the same.”
Ciaran laughed as he stood up and came over to sit on the side of Sawyer’s desk, his hand on Sawyer’s arm. “What’s the update?”
Kellan gave a nod. “All four eggs are entering the chromatophores stage. Progression is faster, growth rate is higher than normal, but these hatchlings don’t exactly fall under ‘normal’ given who their parents are.”
“What does that mean?” Sawyer asked. “What’s the chromo-what stage?”
“Stage fifteen,” Kellan said. “We’re two-thirds the way done.”
Ciaran’s smile made Sawyer’s heart thump against his ribs. “It means we’re gonna have hatchlings any day now.”
Kellan grinned. “Maybe even by tomorrow, at this rate.”
His excitement was contagious. Just like everyone else, Sawyer could hardly wait.
“Are Aurin and Salem eating enough?” Ciaran asked. “Can I do anything?”
“No. They don’t want anyone entering their cave,” Kellan said, not for the first time. “They barely let me in.”
“Don’t want to risk Salem going into shark mode again?” Sawyer asked. He couldn’t believe it when Tobin had told them, had shown them, when Salem had snapped at him like that. It was so freaking cool. “I wish I could see it for myself.”
Ciaran sighed. “You would say that.”
“We’ll take some more food down now, and I’d say that will be it until hatch time,” Kellan said.
Sawyer knew he had to bring up the inevitable. “We need to tell them,” he said. “We need to tell Salem that Hadeom asked about Salem, specifically. That he knows he exists, but also where he is.”
It was something he and Ciaran had talked about, but only between themselves. They needed Kellan’s input. He was basically Ciaran’s second in command. Unofficially, but everyone knew it. He was level-headed, rational, and calm under pressure.
“I agree,” Kellan said. “But not yet. Wait until after we have hatchlings. They don’t need any more stress right now.”
“That’s fair,” Sawyer allowed.
